YEARS
People familiar with the matter said Home Ministry Under Secretary Nutan Kumari submitted an affidavit in response to a suo motu petition taken up by the High Court over reports including phone tapping of a judge.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had not taken any instructions or sought any information from the Centre for tapping the telephones of various individuals, including a High Court judge, a senior official of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in an affidavit submitted before the Telangana High Court. People familiar with the matter said that Nutan Kumari, Under Secretary in the Home Ministry, submitted an affidavit in response to a suo motu petition taken up by the High Court on reports including phone tapping of a judge.
The MHA official said no approval is required from the MHA as the secretary of the state home department is the competent authority to issue an order to intercept the phone of any subscriber registered in his state. He said both the central and state governments are authorised to issue directions for lawful interception under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Rule 419-A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951. However, according to him, as per Rule 419-A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, although the state home secretary grants permission for such interception, there is a committee headed by the chief secretary which reviews all such approvals for interception.
All blocking orders should be sent to the chief secretary within seven days. If the committee headed by the chief secretary chooses not to revoke such permissions, they will remain in force for a period of 60 days and may continue to remain in force through renewal for a further period of 180 days, not exceeding that, the MHA official said in the affidavit.
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